Endorsement News: Harnessing the Power of Payments for Customer Engagement

Editor's Note: The following was written by Christine Courtney, Director of Payment Services for Harland Clarke, a LBA Endorsed Vendor. For more information, visit their website at www.harlandclarke.com.

To sell or to engage? This is the question many financial institutions struggle with relative to customer interactions. We have an answer: Engagement wins.

According to Javelin Strategy & Research, financial institutions can boost the profitability of new checking account customers if they successfully engage them. 

Additionally, fully engaged customers provide an estimated $212 more in annual profit and own up to three more financial accounts. If you are not fully engaging your customers, there’s money being left on the table.

So, why are financial institutions having such a hard time with this process? 

It’s hard to do efficiently and effectively. You need a way “in” with your new customers. You need an active, automated process to drive engagement—and payment instruments are a great place to start. 

We believe one of the most effective ways to do this is through payments—specifically checks and cards. 

While many bankers don’t talk much about checks anymore, about 70% of consumers still need and use checks. In fact, “order checks” is among the top terms people search for on a financial institution’s website. Unfortunately, fewer than half of the customers who need checks get them from their financial institution.

If you’re not trying to capture check orders, you’re missing out on an enormous engagement opportunity, and you’re leaving money on the table. Studies show that about 40% of check writers get their checks elsewhere.

The same is true with cards. Debit card activation is one of the key indicators of full engagement. If you’re not issuing and activating a card at account opening or immediately thereafter, you’re missing an important engagement opportunity. 

Engagement through payments: seamless, simple and strategic 

Capturing these engagement opportunities requires a consistent process that is simple and seamless both for the customer and the financial institution, and strategic for the future of the account relationship. 

How can you make sure your new customers have the payment instruments they need and leverage them to deepen the new relationship? 

Here’s the vision: 

Seamless. The process should begin at the time of new account opening with a reminder to order checks. If checks are not ordered at the time of the new account being opened, a digital reminder should be sent to the consumer. This digital outreach—to new customers who don’t order checks at account opening—should include a link to easily order checks, increasing your first check order capture rate.

For accounts opened in-branch, having this process in place takes the pressure off harried staff to accomplish these tasks. The process also provides an opportunity to establish personalized, non-salesy conversation with customers regardless of the channel through which they initially established a relationship with the financial institution. 

Simple. All set-up and ordering must be “Amazon® easy.” For example, check ordering should be quick—done in only a few clicks, if possible. Check designs and quantity choices should be offered to match your customer’s lifestyle. Our research confirms that reasonable, “all-inclusive” pricing should include free standard shipping. In fact, according to a survey, free shipping leads to more sales: 84% have specifically made a purchase because shipping was free.

Strategic. The delivery vehicle should be engaging, too. Deliver checks and cards in a personalized mailer designed with engagement in mind, branded with your financial institution’s logo, colors, look and feel. 

Take advantage of this sure-to-be-opened mailing with personalized messaging to create a branded, new account welcome kit experience. This additional brand recognition opportunity engages your customers, reinforces your brand and puts your check package to work for you each time customers write a check—without tapping into your marketing budget! And keep in mind that once you establish this interaction and trust, future personalized communications become a natural way to cross-sell based on what you know about your specific customer’s needs.